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Monday, November 15, 2010

Salmon Chowder

I'm no vegetarian, but if a creature is killed to be our dinner, we should treat it with respect and use as much of it as we can. When I lived in America, I never bought a fish with the skeleton included, but now I buy fresh fish at the market where I decide what to do with it. If I ask my fish monger to fillet it, I usually receive the head and skeleton in the bag. I was quite surprised the first time this happened, but of course, I had to find a way to use it!

OVERVIEW: The first time I made this I had a chunk of salmon skeleton and two full small tilapia skeletons. I boiled all the raw remains with chunks of potatoes. When the fish looked well cooked I fished it out (excused the pun) and threw in other vegetables and herbs. I may have also added fresh or a can of stewed tomatoes. I blended the soup, then picked the cooked skeletons clean and put the meat back in the soup.

DETAILS: This time I was inspired by some inexpensive fish heads at the market. The young man there said I might prefer some salmon heads he had in the back, so I bought two. (He offered to remove the jaw so I wouldn't hurt myself when handling them, but I though that would ruin the picture.) I boiled them with a bay leaf for 15 minutes. Then I drained the soup into a smaller pot and put the heads in the fridge to be picked apart later.

After rinsing my big pot I started boiling potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnip, celery, and 2-3 bay leaves. I lowered the water to a simmer and when the potatoes were getting close to cooked I added half a bunch of dill and a little leftover parsley.

When the potatoes were cooked I fished out as much of the herbs and celery greens as I could find, plus the bay leaves. Then I added a drained can of tomatoes, the fish broth, a little salt, pepper, and a "fish and chicken seasoning" spice mix. Thanks to the hand blender my Mother-in-Law bought me, I blended everything left in the pot.
After I took steps to safely cool the soup (see end of bean soup video), I picked all the meat off the fish heads and added it back to the soup.

I was surprised that much of the meat inside the salmon head is white. I don't really know my way around a salmon head, but I decided to keep anything that had a consistency between chicken and lobster and toss anything more slimy than that.
I added the meat back into the soup while figuring out what I was going to do with all that soup. It was a lot! It would probably freeze well, but I gave a container to my neighbors, I brought a container to my co-conspirator, Hannah, and her six kids, and I kept a big bowl for my husband and I.

Some things I suggest for next time:

I think you can cook the veggies right in the fish broth. Then you won't have a lot of extra liquid, and you can add the tomatoes with their juice earlier on.

Use only the tops of the celery and stems of the dill. There are more noble uses for the rest.

Up the flavor with some mushrooms, but use less of the other greens, they were a tad over-powering.

Increase the flavor (but also the prep time) by frying onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms and adding them halfway through the potato cooking.

Leave something else in the soup chunky besides the salmon, like leeks or mushrooms.

Do you have any ideas for making this soup more tasty, economical or ecological?